Bush, Schwarzkopf help Kuwait celebrate Gulf War anniversary

KUWAIT -- As allied war jets flew overhead, Kuwaitis raised their flag and performed a victory dance Sunday to mark the 10th anniversary of the end of the Gulf War and freedom from Iraqi occupation.

Security was tight as Gulf War heroes -- including former President George Bush and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher -- watched men in robes perform the arda, the Gulf's traditional dance depicting the ''joy of victory,'' with swords and rifles.

Kuwait, which has held off on such galas for a decade out of respect for its war missing, is celebrating liberation day with pomp and parades for the first time since the war's end in 1991.

Kuwait accuses Baghdad of holding some 600 people captive. Iraq insists, however, that it has released all war prisoners.

The Kuwaiti government decided to part with tradition this year because liberation day, Feb. 26, falls one day before the 40th anniversary of the country's independence from Britain in 1961.

On Sunday, soldiers received the Kuwaiti flag from the crown prince, Sheik Saad Al Abdullah Al Sabah, and hoisted it on a pole at the seaside Flag Square.

Bush and retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, who led the international military coalition that fought the war, watched live-fire maneuvers by U.S., British and Kuwaiti forces some 30 miles from the Iraqi border.

''I think we ought to bring some of the (Iraqi) Republican Guards here and let them take a good look,'' Schwarzkopf said afterward.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, the former general who served as chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff during the crisis, was expected in Kuwait later Sunday.

Small oil-rich Kuwait, with a tiny army, still depends on its Gulf War allies for protection. Kuwait signed 10-year defense agreements with its Western allies after the war, and has renewed the pact with Washington through 2011.

Baghdad has heightened its campaign against Kuwait in recent months with Odai Hussein, the Iraqi president's son, telling Parliament Iraq's map should be altered to include Kuwait.